


Time

by DistractedSiren



Series: Bylaude One-Shots [5]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/M, byleth remembers verdant wind during azure moon, i miss claude in every route that isn't verdant wind, memories from an alternate universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistractedSiren/pseuds/DistractedSiren
Summary: “I won’t ask you why you chose him,” Claude continues. His smile is still curling his lips—a genuine smile that’s warming his eyes and breaking her heart. “I know why you chose him. I like him too. Just wish we could have...figured something out. Found a path to walk down together.”I chose you first, she thinks, I chose you and Dimitri died, and this was the only way I could fix it.





	Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is a direct result of me missing Claude in every route that isn't Verdant Wind.
> 
> The headcanon for this one is that when the big bad at the end of Verdant Wind is finally killed, Byleth is able to fully tap into the Sothis' powers and can go further back in time than ever before...so she couldn't go back and save Dimitri without giving up her happy ending with Claude.
> 
> Angst ahoy, but at least everyone lives?

“Teach,” he says with a smile, like they’re meeting on a tranquil summer’s day. There’s blood on his lips. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“Claude,” Byleth replies. Her grip on the Sword of the Creator feels like the only thing that’s keeping her tethered to reality. The Battle of Gronder Field rages around them, but it seems so far away.

“I won’t ask you why you chose him,” Claude continues. His smile is still curling his lips—a genuine smile that’s warming his eyes and breaking her heart. “I know why you chose him. I like him too. Just wish we could have...figured something out. Found a path to walk down together.”

_I chose you first_, she thinks, _I chose you and Dimitri died, and this was the only way I could fix it._

“There’s still time,” she says. Hopes.

He shakes his head. “The Alliance is crumbling. If I can get back, I’ll convince the others to offer fealty to your prince. If not...well, the Empire will sweep up through Gloucester territory, but Judith has sworn she’ll support you with or without me in the picture.”

Byleth’s chest aches. “You’ll get back,” she promises him. It’s all she can give him.

He nods. His eyes fall on the wyvern behind her, the one that had carried her to him. There’s a bow in a sheath attached to the saddle. The quiver of arrows is still slung across her back.

“I just have one last question for you, Teach.” Some of the old mischief makes its way into his eyes. They twinkle at her, though he looks so tired.

“What’s that?” she asks. She’ll tell him anything. She feels she owes him that, after winding back the clock on their new dawn and choosing to try and save Dimitri.

“Who taught you how to fight like a Barbarossa?”

Her eyes close. Memories flood her: him coaxing her onto the back of a saddled wyvern. Archery practice. Flying lessons in the moonlight. Brutal airborne sparring. A stolen kiss above the clouds...

_You did_, she thinks. _You taught me so much. Gave me so much._

“An Almyran prince,” she answers, opening her eyes again to look into his. A strange expression crosses his face...like she’s shocked him a little, but also confirmed a suspicion he’s been harboring at the same time.

“An Almyran prince, was he?” Claude laughs, coughs. There’s more blood. Her body feels cold without his arms around it. “Handsome too, I’ll bet. And I’m guessing you helped him make his dreams come true, as thanks for those excellent lessons he gave you?”

She smiles at him when he winks at her, just the same way he always does when he’s teasing. She should have known he wouldn’t even blink at the idea that somehow, she _had_ chosen him. In another life, another universe, they’d brought Fódlan a new age side by side.

“Yes,” she tells him. The fingers of her free hand touch his face, slide into his hair. He leans his cheek into her touch, his eyes slipping closed for just a moment as he savors it. “We made our dreams come true together. We saw a new dawn. And I love him...with everything I am.”

The last is a whisper. His eyes open, widen slightly at her choice of words. His next smile is even more devastating than the last. “He’s a lucky bastard, in that case.”

She laughs a little. A tear slides down her cheek. He reaches up and wipes it away.

“I bet he was—_is_—crazy about you, my friend,” he tells her. She covers his hand with her own, lets the moment stretch. But they’re running out of time, she knows that too. The battle will move their way again, and this is the only time she’ll be able to save him. She knows that because she’s tried—and failed—before. She squeezes his hand and pulls away, aching.

“You have to go. Go now. I’ll make sure the rest of your army surrenders without any more casualties, but you need to leave,” she says, low and urgent. He looks into her eyes, sees the way the truth of her warning haunts her, and nods.

“I’ll go. When the Alliance lords have agreed to surrender, I’ll write to you,” he replies, already struggling to his feet.

“Thank you,” she says, because there are so many other words caught in her throat but these are the only ones he’ll truly understand just now.

“Be careful, my friend. Maybe when this is done, you’ll meet your Almyran prince again,” he replies. She nods and smiles at him and he leaves.

Will she? She isn’t sure. But she’s glad she could save him this time, when she couldn’t have saved Dimitri otherwise.

She turns back to the battle. Goes back to her new prince. She’s at peace with her choice, even as her heart escapes to the east.


End file.
